Scouts add activities normally associated with boys to their repertoire

By Colin Gustafson, STAFF WRITER

Published
9:52 pm EST, Thursday, January 21, 2010

Greenwich, Jan. 10, 2010. Maddi Wolf, 15, from Girl Scout Troup 50168, a "High School Troup" with one of the rifles at the Cos Cob Revolver and Rifle Club. The girls scouts are learning gun safety and target practice with 22 caliber rifles. less

Greenwich, Jan. 10, 2010. Maddi Wolf, 15, from Girl Scout Troup 50168, a "High School Troup" with one of the rifles at the Cos Cob Revolver and Rifle Club. The girls scouts are learning gun safety and target ... more

Photo: Helen Neafsey, GT

Photo: Helen Neafsey, GT

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Greenwich, Jan. 10, 2010. Maddi Wolf, 15, from Girl Scout Troup 50168, a "High School Troup" with one of the rifles at the Cos Cob Revolver and Rifle Club. The girls scouts are learning gun safety and target practice with 22 caliber rifles. less

Greenwich, Jan. 10, 2010. Maddi Wolf, 15, from Girl Scout Troup 50168, a "High School Troup" with one of the rifles at the Cos Cob Revolver and Rifle Club. The girls scouts are learning gun safety and target ... more

Nearby, a dozen other Girl Scouts lay on the floor, rifles in hands, firing off round after round to improve their aim and firing posture with help from adult instructors.

This is not your ordinary group of Girl Scouts.

Composed of two dozen high-school-age girls, the Greenwich-based Connecticut Troop 50168 follows the informal motto that anything boys can do, they can do, too.

In addition to more traditional Girl Scout activities such as volunteering at food pantries and making holiday gingerbread houses, these girls say they like participating in activities more typically associated with Boy Scouts.

Recently, they went on rain-or-shine camping trips, received certification as trained rock-climbing spotters, practiced rifle target shooting and learned basic auto care. In the months ahead, they plan to go scuba diving and white-water rafting as well as learn self-defense.

The troop formed as a combination of several smaller troops at the beginning of this school year.

"We're not just about movie nights and manicures," said Riverside mother Darlene Franze, one of the troop's parent leaders. "We want the girls to have the experiences that boys have." That way, she said, the girls realize that "there isn't anything in the world they cannot do, if they put their mind to it."

Franze's daughter, Jennifer, 14, agrees: "We're not tomboys," she said. "But all the stuff that people say, `Oh, (girls) can't do that, that's for boys -- we can do all that stuff."

These girls sometimes prove to be better at traditionally boy-oriented activities than boys.

At the troop's recent rifle outing, for instance, there were more crack shots in the all-female crowd than there often have been on outings with a mostly male group, instructors said. One reason is that female students often are more receptive to instructors' directions when it comes to handling the firearms properly and obeying safety rules, such as keeping their finger off the trigger when not firing and only raising the weapon when it is pointed down range.

"With girls, you don't have the whole macho thing kick in," said club member Venus Gault. "Boys have this preconceived notion that they're going to know what to do. But when instructors tell the girls, `Safety first,' they really listen."

Other troop activities are meant to help the girls develop skills that will help them succeed as independent women later on, parents said.

Earlier this week, the girls learned basic car maintenance at Scotty's Auto and Truck Service Center in Stamford, including how to check the fluids, inspect the air filters, jump-start the engine and change the oil. The lesson was co-taught by Byram native Scotty Sobeski and his daughter, Kaitlyn, a 24-year-old Greenwich High School graduate and former cheerleader who has returned to her hometown after college to help her dad run his shop.

"She's a great role model," Sobeski said, as Kaitlyn leaned over a nearby car engine to point out the components to a group of girls.

Eileen Zawatski, whose daughter, Mary, 15, is in the troop, said these practical, hands-on lessons will help the girls in a world where women's roles are advancing well outside of the traditional domestic sphere.

"When I was a Girl Scout, we did crafts, sewing, cooking -- things that were more traditionally female," she said. "This is really teaching them to be independent young women who can survive on their own."

Emma Tebbe, 16, feels likewise. "We can use Girl Scouts to learn about the things that we need to know."

Staff Writer Colin Gustafson can be reached at colin.gustafson@scni.com or 203-625-4428.